Category Archives: plants

May24

Hog Wild for Coleus

Posted on by
Standard

Newest Coleus , originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Sean was sweet enough to take me to three(!) different garden centers/greenhouses and Low*es on Friday where I found most of what I needed for pots and hanging baskets. I hit the mother lode for Coleus at Gateway in Hockessin, DE. They had tons of them, but at $5 a pot, I had to be choosy. I’m going to go out and photograph them and write down the names, but some off the top of my head are ‘Henna’ and ‘Witch Doctor’. When these need a trim, I pinch off a few stems and put them in water where they root in a few weeks. I then plant them in bare spots in my various gardens. I noticed that the above center had them out in the sun and the lady there said that many coleus are sun tolerant now. I just love all the colors and how some look like they have been watercolored.
I had a busy day in the heat yesterday, so I’m taking it easy today.
Updated-my collection:
Coleus Collection 2009
Have a lovely Sunday!

May11

New plants for the garden

Posted on by
Standard

We had a cool day and I only managed to plant some coleus in the ground that were starting to shrivel up and die on me.
I had to get groceries as Sean is now home and he likes to graze all day. ; )
I finally cooked the ‘post’ Mother’s Day dinner-it pays to marinate chicken overnight. I just used some rib seasonings and veggie oil and the outside grilled chicken was as tender as turkey. We also had red potato salad and romaine and tomato, se we enjoyed it.
Shown above are the plants I bought-believe it, cost $20 for that few. Sean did buy the perennial-the Oenothera in the box. It is blooming a bit displaying it’s yellow bell-like flowers to me.
Sean has all his grades and almost got a straight ‘B’; missed a ‘B’ by a few points. He was waiting on one grade and got a ‘C’ which he hoped would have been a ‘B’. What counts is he is finished all is requirements and that degree is waiting for him on Friday. He will probably go to grad school next year. He needs to work and make a little money now and pay his own loans. ; )

I saw a ‘neighbor’ (we all live acres away except for the new developments) at the grocery store who I knew had been fighting cancer. She was going in line to check out and I was coming up an aisle. I didn’t recognize her at first and they it hit me how different she looked-at least she was food shopping, but she had no eyebrows or lashes and her face was much thinner. Broke my heart.

May5

Violets, stitching and cards

Posted on by
Standard

Since it’s so wet and wild outside, I decided to clean my bay window that holds my African Violets. I had an entire plastic bag of dead leaves and flowers. I really need to repot and give some away. Anyone want a few? My mom got me the same violet variety three times that she went to the Philly Flower show as I wanted something different. It’s has white and green leaves and the white flowers have a touch of green in them-shown in both corners of the photo.
Here’s my cleaned up window:
img_4934
Cleaning this was a job and a half and I shouldn’t have done it as I have a ouchie and didn’t go to mom’s to help her. I probably will venture to mom’s on Thursday.
And here’s my herb garden bouquet cross stitched piece that is the only piece I’ve been working on lately. I think I like completing one and moving on to another. Not much left to do:
img_4933
I’m hoping, really hoping to make this a crafty summer so I can put up things to sell online. I need to narrow down my choices and buy what I need to make the things. I just need to get the gardening out of the way.
One for the road…I do weekly Art Trading Card/Skinny challenges on Flickr. Our challenge this week was to do a card based on the song ‘Rhinestone Cowboy’-yikes! This is what I came up with and I think he’s cute as a cowpoke!

img_4930

Apr28

Late April 2009

Posted on by
Standard

Late April 2009, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

I went around the yard after dinner and took some quick snaps before my head exploded from the pollen! I got my first cold in a while-I think over a year. I just bought the daisies last Friday. I had the herb pot and did plant herbs in it-Rosemary, Oregano and I think Thai Basil. My pond is running well.

Apr25

Photo Hunt-Protect

Posted on by
Standard
PSHunt

This almost century old conservatory shelters many varieties of gorgeous plants, which include orchids, from the elements outside, whether it is heat or cold. There is a maze of different rooms from a desert room to an bonsai room. There’s always something new to see each time I go, which is frequently.

Longwood’s Conservatory is one of the world’s great greenhouse structures. It shelters 20 indoor gardens and 5,500 types of plants. The Conservatory was built in 1919 and has been periodically expanded and renovated. At present, there are 195,668 square feet—or 4.5 acres—of covered display, production, and research greenhouses.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yesterday, I bought my first trunk load of flowers. I had saved a bunch of money from eBay sales. Loews was having a buy one get one free on 6″ pots and had a few other good sales. I bought most of my plants at a local nursery because you get a lot for the price. Here I am happy to be in gardener mode again-
diflowers09

Mar22

Longwood Gardens 2009 Orchid show

Posted on by
Standard

This past Friday, I decided I needed to do something different. I hadn’t had my van for 3 days and it was nice to have wheels again. I headed to Longwood Gardens to see their orchid display and to get a walk in. I want to try for a mile or so a week and build up. Here are some of my 85 photos, the rest are on Flickr. I love the blue poppy too!
I came home to a message that Brian’s father that he had fallen down on an errand to get a watch battery-the town he went to wasn’t around the corner. He tripped on the curb and hit his nose enough that it had a wound that bled a lot. They called an ambulance too. He was at the hospital and no one knew it. We tell him to carry his cellphone on him. To make a long story short, he’s doing good-Bri checked him out on Saturday. We want him to get his eyes and ears checked (he hasn’t been to an eye doctor in at least 15 yrs). He seems to be getting more frequent falling or tripping episodes. I even called Bri’s aunt to talk his dad into going to the eye doctor as she use to run the optical dept of a nice store in Philadelphia before she retired. Crossing fingers.
Also on Saturday, Bri’s car’s brake lights decided to stay on and we had to drop that at the shop and disconnect the new battery. When it rains it pours! I was outside raking out some garden beds too.
We are all anxious for Sean’s trip to Las Vegas-bon voyage to him!